Guide to LaTeX (4th Edition) (Tools and Techniques

4.7. Boxes 85
tentative 2004 = $100 000.00 for deficiency 2003
2005 = $ 50 000.00 2004
+ $100 000.00 excess for 2003 in 2004
Commitments 2003 = $100 000.00
2004 = $150 000.00 signed: H. André
Hint: the first line in the tabbing environment should read
Project: \=Total Requirements\= = \$900\,000.00 \+\\
What is the effect of the \+ command at the end of this line? How do you arrange,
using these tab stops, for the years 2003, 2004, and 2005 in the second to fourth
lines all to be positioned before the second tab stop? Which command should
be at the end of the second line just before the \\terminator?
Lines 1–4 and 8–12 all use the same set of tab stops, even though there are
additional stops set in the eighth line. With \$1\=00\,000.00 one can align the
entry \$\>50\,000.00 in the ninth line to match the decimal places of the lines
above.
Lines 5–7 have their own tab stops. Use the save and recall feature to store the
preset tab stops and to bring them back. The left border of lines 5–7 correspond
to the first stop of the first group. What command is at the end of the fourth line
to ensure that the left border is reset to one stop earlier? How is the left border
of the second-to-last line reset?
The last line contains ‘signed: H. André’ right justified. With what tabbing
command was this produced? Watch out for the accent é in this entry within the
tabbing environment!
4.7 Boxes
A box is a piece of text that T E X treats as a unit, like a single character. A
box (along with the text within it) can be moved left, right, up, or down.
Since the box is a unit, T E X cannot break it up again, even it was originally
made up of smaller individual boxes. It is, however, possible to put those
smaller boxes together as one pleases when constructing the overall box.
This is exactly what T E X does internally when it carries out the formatting:
the individual characters are packed in character boxes, which
are put together into line boxes horizontally with rubber lengths inserted
between the words. The line boxes are stacked vertically into paragraph
boxes, again with rubber lengths separating them. These then go into the
page body box, which with the head and foot boxes constitutes the page
box.
L AT E X offers the user a choice of three box types: LR boxes, paragraph
boxes, and rule boxes. The LR (left–right) box contains material that is
ordered horizontally from left to right in a single line. A paragraph box
will have its contents made into vertically stacked lines. A rule box is
a rectangle filled solidly with black, usually for drawing horizontal and
vertical lines.